One final time, Desmond King will walk out of the tunnel wearing his Iowa Hawkeye No. 14 uniform. The senior cornerback will play in the Jan. 2 Outback Bowl and then start concentrating on an NFL career.
Hawk Central

Iowa cornerback Desmond King bobbles the ball but is able to recover as he and Iowa cornerback Joshua Jackson (right) and MichiganÕs Brandon Watson go after the ball Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016, at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.
Michael Zamora/The Register

Iowa wide receiver Riley McCarron (83) is congratulated by defensive back Desmond King (14) after McCarron returned of a punt for a touchdown during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016, at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill.
Bradley Leeb/AP

Desmond King discusses things with an official during Iowa's 14-7 win Saturday at Rutgers. For the second straight week, King is not a gameday captain. It'll be C.J. Beathard, LeShun Daniels Jr., injured Matt VandeBerg and Josey Jewell.
Ed Mulholland, USA TODAY Sports

Iowa's Greg Mabin, left, and Desmond King celebrate a stop during the Hawkeyes' Big Ten Championship game against Michigan State at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015.
David Scrivner / Iowa City Press-Citizen

Iowa cornerback Desmond King announced on Tuesday that he was going to return to the Hawkeyes for his senior season. The Jim Thorpe Award winner caught a school-record tying eight interceptions and earned All-American honors.
Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register

University of Iowa defensive back Desmond King (14) and defensive back Anthony Gair (12) celebrate during a NCAA Division I Football game between Northwestern University and the University of Iowa at Ryan Field on October 17, 2015 in Evanston, Illinois
Dustin Satloff/For the Register

Iowa cornerback Desmond King celebrates after nabbing one of his two picks in the first half against Pitt on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015, at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa.
Bryon Houlgrave, The Register

After the pass reception, Iowa State's #5 Allen Lazard, right, tried to fight off Iowa's #14 Desmond King in the fourth quarter in football game played at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City on Saturday Sept. 13, 2014.
Bill Neibergall/The Register

IOWA CITY, Ia. — When Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker went hunting for a defensive back late in the recruiting process three years ago, trusted resources told him about a guy from Detroit who was already committed to Ball State.

Their comments about one of the best players in Michigan intrigued Parker, so he paid a visit to Desmond King in January 2013. Right away, Parker knew he was onto something.

“He had that look,” Parker said.

King’s highlight tape and grades were good at East English Village Prep. Why Parker thought he would be a good fit at Iowa was revealed soon thereafter.

“There was no question about his character,” Parker said. “(What was) really impressive was just the way he handled himself in school with the other teachers and the way they talked about him.”

So maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that King is returning to Iowa for his senior football season. King confirmed his return in an Instagram post on Tuesday afternoon. There are more important things than zeroes behind a dollar sign in this young man’s life.

A photo posted by Desmond E King II (@iiam_blackbadger14) on Jan 5, 2016 at 11:15am PST

"Feels good to finish my education and to be with my brothers for my senior year. There will be those that say my decision is wrong but it's what's best for me," King wrote on his Instagram account.

In an interview with The Daily Iowan, which broke the story, King's mother, Yvette Powell, said her son had “unfinished business” at Iowa, which suffered a humbling 45-16 Rose Bowl defeat. Perhaps her most telling quote was about junior classmate C.J. Beathard, the second-team all-Big Ten Conference Hawkeye quarterback.

“He didn’t want to leave C.J. like that,” she told the DI. “We talked to C.J., and he was happy.”

Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard runs for a first down as Iowa StateÕs Mitchell Meyers defends Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016 during the Cy-Hawk football game at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
Michael Zamora/The Register

Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard looks down field for an open receiver during the Hawkeyes' game against Iowa State at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016.
David Scrivner / Iowa City Press-Citizen

C.J. Beathard led Iowa to the Rose Bowl, but couldn't cap a magical 2015 season with a victory. "That was the one game we didn't show up for," he said glumly, of a 45-16 loss to Standford.
Bryon Houlgrave/The Register

Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard throws during a March 30, 2016, open practice at the Iowa Football Performance Center. Beathard had offseason sports-hernia surgery but looked A-OK in his 40 minutes of media-exposed practice time.
David Scrivner, Iowa City Press-Citizen

Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard (16) huddles with his teammates during the third quarter in the Big Ten Conference football championship game against the Michigan State Spartans at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports

Iowa junior quarterback CJ Beathard stretches across the goal line to score a touchdown in the second quarter against Pitt on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015, at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa.
Bryon Houlgrave, The Register

C.J. Beathard answers questions during a news conference at the L.A. Hotel Downtown on Sunday, Dec. 27. The Hawkeyes are preparing to play Stanford in the 2016 Rose Bowl.
Jay Christensen/Special to the Register

Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard jogs to practice at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., on Sunday, Dec. 27. The Hawkeyes are in final preparation for their Jan. 1 matchup against Stanford in the 2016 Rose Bowl.
Jay Christensen/Special to the Register

Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard (16) is protected by left guard Sean Welsh (79) and Cole Croston (64) against Illinois on Oct. 10. Iowa moved James Daniels to right tackle on an emergency basis that game when Ike Boettger got hurt.
Bryon Houlgrave, The Register

From left, Iowa's Boone Myers, Cole Croston, Jordan Walsh and C.J. Beathard head to the sidelines during Saturday's Big Ten championship game loss to Michigan State.
David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen

Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard looks for an open receiver during the Hawkeyes' Big Ten Championship game against Michigan State at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015.
David Scrivner / Iowa City Press-Citizen

Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard (16) is congratulated by Iowa linebacker Eric Grimm (45) after throwing a long touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter against Michigan State during the Big Ten Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium on Dec. 5, 2015.
Mykal McEldowney/The Star

Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard (16) is flushed from the pocket and looks to the sideline against Michigan State during the Big Ten Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium on Dec. 5, 2015.
Mykal McEldowney/The Star

Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard runs down field during the Hawkeyes' Big Ten Championship game against Michigan State at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015.
David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen

Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard gets a pat on the chest from head coach Kirk Ferentz after an interception during the Hawkeyes' Big Ten Championship game against Michigan State at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015.
David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen

Iowa players are not allowed to use Twitter, but many of them do operate Instagram accounts. King’s Instagram says the right things. For example, he posted a photo of a fresh Kinnick Stadium banner trumpeting his status as a consensus all-American and winner of the Jim Thorpe Award (given to the nation’s top defensive back) and posted: “It's more than just a game, how will you want them to remember you?”

In a Monday-posted projected first round by NFLDraftScout.com, King was listed as the No. 24 overall pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Last year’s No. 24 overall pick, D.J. Humphries of the Arizona Cardinals, signed a rookie contract totaling $8.9 million over four years.

To pass that possibility up, King’s actions — coming back to Iowa and being the first member of his family to get a college degree — tell more about his character than words.

After playing another year in college, the millions will still be there for King. Even if he got a late first-round projection, there would be no guarantees how he’d fare at the NFL Scouting Combine. Age is on King’s side — the true junior just turned 21 years old in December. Only four NFL rookies this past season played at a younger age than King would have in 2016.

King has respect for Kirk Ferentz, affectionately referring to the 17th-year Iowa coach as #CaptainKirk on Instagram. Leading up to the Rose Bowl, Ferentz was supportive of whatever King would decide, while pointing out that offensive lineman Brandon Scherff’s decision to stay at Iowa for his senior year increased his value to a top-five draft pick and a contract worth more than $21 million in guaranteed money.

Ferentz added of King, “The nice thing is when you're a good player, you're going to win either way. When he's 25, he's going to be in the NFL playing well.”

King won’t win a community-service contest with Jordan Canzeri and, yes, he was late to a team meeting this year, but he’s an integral part in the unifying culture change that began in the Iowa Football Performance Center last January. It's also telling that he checked off with Beathard on the decision. King and Beathard are now the unquestioned faces and leaders of 2016 Hawkeye football.

On top of knowing he’ll still just be 22 as a 2017 NFL rookie and that he took another run at a Big Ten championship with his friends, King’s decision makes sense.

“You may never (again) be in this position in your life where you're going to win no matter what you do,” Ferentz said. “And it's nice sometimes to be in a position where you can do what you want, not what you feel like you have to do.”